Cambridge Police Alternative HEART Launches Hotline After Receiving $150,000 City Grant

The Cambridge Holistic Emergency Alternative Response Team, one of two non-violent police alternatives in the city, will launch their hotline phone number on Tuesday after receiving a $150,000 grant from the city, the organization announced Saturday.

The hotline will be staffed of trained emotional responders who can connect users with local resources, and comes as a major step forward for HEART, which has been beset by challenges including losing their work space and delayed contract negotiations.

Cambridge residents will be able to access HEART responders on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. by calling the phone number. Previously, the organization only accepted non-emergency email requests with a response time of up to one week.

“Our confidential warmline will serve as a beacon of support for individuals in our community providing them a listening ear and connecting them to local resources during challenging times,” the email read.

HEART was one of four organizations focused on violence prevention to receive grants from the city earlier this week, according to city spokesperson Jeremy C. Warnick.

“Through these grants, we are excited to leverage the valued resources and expertise of these community partners and supplement the vast approaches the City is already taking to create sustained change in our neighborhoods,” Community Safety Department Director Liz Speakman wrote in a statement.

The funding will also likely help smooth over relations between HEART and the city, which HEART previously accused of stonewalling contract negotiations even as a separate city-run police alternative — the Cambridge Community Assistance Response and Engagement team — moved forward.

“I worked really hard to try to get HEART funded over several years,” said former Cambridge City Councilor Quinton Y. Zondervan. “It’s disappointing that it took this long, but I’m glad that it’s finally happened.

“I hope that they will continue to be supported by the city as they provide this very important service,” he added.

This is the second grant HEART has received from the city in recent years, following a $300,000 grant in 2023 using federal Covid-19 relief funds provided under the American Rescue Plan Act.

Zondervan said that the funding will help HEART as they work to provide Cambridge with a “vital service.”

“That was always the goal from the very beginning of HEART, to be an alternative emergency response team, so that if somebody is in trouble or they’re dealing with some challenging conflict but they don’t want to bring in the police, that they’ll be able to call this number and get expert help and assistance without involvement,” Zondervan said.

Zondervan also noted that HEART has relocated to another location in Cambridge after the July closure of the Democracy Center — the organization’s former headquarters — left the organization, like many other local activist groups, scrambling for a new meeting space.

Zondervan said he hopes that this funding is not just a one-time gift to HEART.

“I definitely expect and hope that the city continues to support HEART into the future if they need it,” he said. “It’s not enough to just give them funding one time — they need to be continuously supported.”

—Staff writer Asher J. Montgomery can be reached at asher.montgomery@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @asherjmont or on Threads @asher_montgomery.